33 days from Seattle to Calgary to Jackson, WY in July

My wife and I together with our 3 kids aged 5 to 8 are planning to hire a RV in Seattle and drive to Vancouver then Calgary, Canada, then to Great Falls MT, then to Jackson, WY. We have 33 days from the start of July in which to do it. After we get to Jackson, we%26#39;ll have time to go to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone NP. Any suggestions for an itinerary forthe first 33 days please? Will 3 small children cope in a RV for so long? Will an RV make it across the Canadian Rockies? THANKS!!!

33 days from Seattle to Calgary to Jackson, WY in July

Wow, I%26#39;ve always dreamed of having that kind of time to travel, but have had to put these trips together a week at a time! What a wonderful trip. If you don%26#39;t already have reservations, you may have trouble getting them in Yellowstone and Glacier National Park (Montana), but you can check Xanterra, which does the national park reservations. If this were my trip, I%26#39;d probably do something like the following:

Day 1-2 Seattle

Day 3-4 Vancouver

Day 5 Victoria - Butchart Gardens

Day 6-7 travel to Lake Louise

Day 8-11 Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, Yoho National Park (Takakkaw Falls, Emerald Lake)

Day 12 Icefields Parkway to Jasper

Day 13-14 Jasper National Park

Day 15 Banff

Day 16-17 Calgary

Day 18 Waterton National Park

Day 19-21 Glacier National Park

Day 22 Great Falls

Day 23 Red Lodge, Montana

Day 24 Cody, Wyoming (museum)

Day 25 Chief Joseph Scenic Byway to northeast entrance of Yellowstone

Days 26-30 Yellowstone Park

Days 31-33 Grand Tetons to Jackson, Wyoming

Have fun planning!

33 days from Seattle to Calgary to Jackson, WY in July

By the way, you might want to also post this on the Montana and/or Wyoming forums to get other suggestions.

This sounds like such an amazing trip, I%26#39;m jealous!

We have an RV and travel with the kids in it a lot. It%26#39;s the only way I%26#39;ll consider a long trip with all of them anymore. You can bring along (or buy when you get here) a deck of cards, puzzle and/or colouring books, a board game, and if your RV has a DVD player bring along a few movies to entertain them as well. You shouldn%26#39;t hear ';I%26#39;m bored'; more than a handful of times. lol.

Another think I like about the RV when travelling with children is that if someone wants a drink or a snack you have everything you need (not to mention a bathroom!) readily available.

And, yes, an RV will make it across the Rockies - we do it all the time!

One minor item to consider is that you will want to ensure when you book your RV that you are allowed to take it from the US into Canada - some rental companies do not allow this.

With children your ages, you may want to consider a day trip from Calgary to Drumheller, to the Tyrrell Museum. This museum is home to one of the best dinosaur skeleton collections in the world, your kids would probably love it.

One other word of caution about the BC coast: if you are considering travelling from the mainland to Vancouver Island (ie: Victoria) be advised that the ferry trip for your RV and its passengers is going to cost you roughly $150 each way. (The actual cost will depend on the length of your RV.)

Thanks everyone for their helpful comments. Quick questions for Camping Girl (or anyone else) please:

1. what size RV should we rent? (We want one as small as possible).

2. do we need to tow a small car behind the RV? Do you?

thanks

Kokera

With 5 people, and considering the length of time you will be in the RV, which I read to be well over a month, I think you should rent the largest RV you can afford. At a bare minimum, you will need roughly a 25 foot RV, just to provide the number of beds you are going to need. If you can afford to rent a larger one, I would do it. Of course, the larger the RV, the more difficult it is to get around in, for sightseeing, grocery shopping, etc. So you may well want to consider a tow car as well. And this is going to push your costs even higher.

What I can say is that we have a 25 foot RV and travel quite comfortably in it with 3 teenagers. The longest trip we have made is 18 days. We have wished on occasion that we had a car to get around with, but have never had any problems maneuvering our RV into parking spots or in traffic. But my hubby is a truck driver, so he is adept at parallel parking 18 wheelers - the RV is nothing for him!

I hope that helps.

- CG

Great advices by Cdudley and Camping Girl (hi to both !)

I can%26#39;t judge about the Canadian part but have been to Victoria. You don%26#39;t need a car or RV in Victoria so safe the RV money for the ferry. It%26#39;s a great place for a visit.

For Glacier NP. There are restrictions for RV%26#39;s on t awesome Going to the sunroad. See www.nps.gov/glac.

For Red Lodge and Cody. Beartooth Pass and Chief Joseph pass is serious mountaindriving so be prepared.

For your arrival:

You only can pick up a RV after a nights sleep and allow half a day for pu and explanations. Get used to driving on the ';wrong'; side of the road.So I would extend the Seattle stay to 3 days, also because Seattle is a fine city. Do your shopping, groceries here before hitting the road.

You are going to make a fantastic trip.

Tet

Hi tet!

Great advice from tet also. I forgot to mention to you about RV%26#39;s on GTTS road. They are not allowed at all. But there is a free park shuttle that you can use to explore this incredible road instead, so fear not. This is actually more enjoyable since everyone can stare at the beauty in comfort and relaxation; with your own vehicle the driver ends up only getting a glimpse of this road%26#39;s beauty.

If you are planning a day trip to Victoria, then I would take tet%26#39;s suggestion and leave your RV on the mainland. You can walk onto the ferry for a lot less; the last time I did this it was about $21 for 2 adults and 2 kids. I know that the prices will have gone up, but it is still so much more economical than taking any sort of motor vehicle with you.

Tet: Hi to you as well! I was hoping you might chime in here. I know where to go and what to see, but I%26#39;ve never even been in an RV before, so that%26#39;s a completely different animal to me! Thanks to you and Camping Girl for helping out with the nuts and bolts of RV travel in the Rockies! I%26#39;m sure Kokera appreciates it.

Actually I also never drove an RV in Canada/Usa-lol-

But maybe in the future---who knows!

Here are a few tips based on our travels...

Seattle:

Take some time to go to the Seattle Aquarium %26amp; Pikes Public Market (within walking distance of each other). Both great for the kids. The Museum of Flight near the airport is really cool but is probably too much for the little ones (very large museum that includes Models of the first flying machines and supersonic aircraft ( http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g60878-d109350/Seattle:Washington:Museum.Of.Flight.html))

Revelstoke,BC:

You might want to take a break from RVing here and stay at the Coast hotel - beautiful log construction, and just outside of town so you feel like you are in a mountain resort. Also, while at Revelstoke, if time permits drive north to the Revelstoke Dam on the Columbia river - very informative and fun for the kids.

Jasper, Alberta:

I would reconsider whether you want to drive to Jasper and back in an RV. Though Jasper is beautiful the area is very similar to Banff/LakeLouise. Perhaps plan on more days in one location rather than more ';road time'; with the kids :-) Just a suggestion from a traveled parent. I would recommend seeing Banff/Lake Louise/Icefield Parkway but not going as far north as Jasper.

Banff, Alberta (Lake Louise):

Try and stay at Tunnel Mountain Campground. Very good facilities and some beautiful hiking paths for smaller kids (not too steep).

Glacier National Park:

In St Mary%26#39;s there used to be a small restaurant on the east side of the road as you enter town. It was a log cabin construction and they served meals in a ';Homestyle'; manner. That is the Host was an older man that wore an apron that said ';World%26#39;s Greatest Grandpa';. If you ordered a turkey dinner for the family, your table received a heaping bowl of mashed potatoes a bowl of hot veggies, and a huge platter of turkey (Just like at home). I don%26#39;t even know if the place is still open but if you find it - it will be one of the highlights of your trip.

Great Falls,Montana:

I would recommend staying at the KOA campground. Very nice facility - your kids are the perfect age to enjoy the water park area in the campground (slides, shaded, and lots of other kids to play with). We tented there a few years ago and our kids were the last ones out of the pool each night, they were having so much fun.

Well that%26#39;s a little more than my 2 cents worth - I hope you find it helpful.